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comes forward and bears weight after the left hand turn your right hand over when the board's end comes alongside you ... ble so that you need only take one smooth step with your right foot to reach the saw and finish the cut (the photos show how to complete this movement). A triple-chip blade on a powerful saw The right blade with this job, as for many things in life, is a compromise. In my expe- rience, combination teeth can't remove material rapidly and produce a smooth edge. But pure rip grinds are often a bit too aggressive to cut cleanly. They remove material much faster than a combination grind but leave an edge that is too rough for gluing. Triple-chip grinds are less aggressive but remove material rapidly enough to Getting the first edge straight on a tablesaw The jointer is unmatched at making a warped board straight and flat on its face. It's what they were designed to do. However, they aren't the only machine that can get a first edge straight on an uneven board. For edge-Jointing the 52S lumber I buy, I choose my tablesaw every time. I find it works faster. Where it might take 10 passes over a Jointer to get a straight edge, I can do It on the first pass over my tablesaw with a minimum of set-up. Unlike the Jointer, the tablesaw needs a guide to do this. A piece of the board to be cut, and a few brads are all you need. Make sure that the edges of the plywood are straight and parallel. I align one edge of the plywood along the board exactly where 3/ .... in.-thlck plywood for a template, slightly wider than 84 FI E WOODWORKING provide the cleanest overall ripcut. However, beware of cheap triple-chip blades: I've found a range of quality among them that substantially affects performance. Tablesaw setup is just as important as blade choice (for more on tuning up your tablesaw, see blade must run parallel to the fence. If it FWW #114, pp. 60-64). The I want the cut to take place so that the waste edge of the board is peeking out from under the plywood. I then nail the plywood to the top of the board with small brads. You usually only need one nail at each end, and by using a longer-than-needed board, you can cut off each end where the nails left holes. I set the fence to the width of the plywood and guide the assembly through the saw as I would if it were a single board (see the photo at right). I keep the edge of the plywood against the rip fence, and just like magic, the edge of the board below is cut straight as a string pulled tight. This technique can be used to straighten rough edges, crooked edges or to cut tapers. -L.S.